Posts tagged “chocolate”

Thought for the day…” You will never know your limits unless you push yourself to them”

” Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but rather playing a bad hand well”.

Two photos of the Christmas fireworks in Bergen, on the west coast of Norway. About 275 000 people live in Bergen, which is the second largest city in Norway after Oslo, the capital. Shipping, oil industry and touristm are the main industries here. It is known as the city of 7 mountains, one of which was used to get the photos of the Christmas fireworks. These mountains mean that Bergen gets a lot of rain, with about 2.25m a year. In the lower part of the photo you can see the lake in the city centre from where the fireworks were launched, complete with a large Christmas tree. Fireworks are believed to have originated in China over 2000 years ago, from where 90% of all fireworks now come from. Interestingly, on New Year’s Eve in 2002 in Zurich, Switzerland, a chocolate firework was fired containing 60kg of Callier Swiss chocolates !! No such luck for the citizens of Bergen, Norway though!

Thought for the day…” The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything”.

” TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More ” or said another way…” Teamwork divides the task, but multiplies the success”

Chocoholics in the world will no doubt be sending in their applications in their thousands for the ‘job’ as a Doctor Of Chocolate at Cambridge University in the UK. The job description says that the ‘job’ is mainly experimental. Hopefully the successful applicant will fare better than Angus Kenndy who became a chocolate taster in the UK in 2010. After gaining more than 15 kg in weight due to tasting around 1 kg of chocolate a day, he was forced to resign after his doctors warned of a heart attack if he continued. As the famous actress Mae West said….”too much of a bad thing can be wonderful”.

And for the photo today, another timeless scene from the hills of Nepal. The photo is a scanned 35mm film negative, so sadly the quality is lower.

Thought for the day…” The difference between genius and stupidity is…..genius has limits”

” The secret of getting ahead is getting started (Mark Twain).

Two photos today from Helsinki, capital of Finland. Helsinki is one of those cities that you have to discover, for there is a lot that is not obvious on arrival. For one thing, Finland is number one on the world for coffee consumption per capita, and the coffee is good, strong and available everywhere. (Try ‘The Roastery’ on Alexanderkatu for some really good coffee). And to go with the great coffee….some Fazer chocolate (although Karl Fazer was actually originally from Germany). It is also the only city in Finland to have trams and a subway (metro) and is said to have the world’s most northerly metro station. The language is horribly difficult for a foreigner, in winter is is very cold (-25 is not uncommon) and also dark for most of the day, but to make up for this there are some excellent sports facilities, wonderful architecture, good eating places, and the feeling that you have left Europe behind and have crossed into Russia (like when you see the Russian Orthodox churches in Helsinki, with their onion domes). Indeed, parts of Helsinki look so much like Russia that Helsinki used to be used instead of Russia when making films (such as ‘Gorky Park’) until the city council decided that it was not a good idea and stopped promoting it. And if you explore the indoor markets, then you may find things like bear meat for sale as well as the more common reindeer and moose meat. But perhaps give another tradional (but popular) Finnish sweet, salty liquorice, a miss. The city has about 53% women (versus 47% men), and after Reykjavik, Iceland, is the world’s most northerly capital city. More trivia….it was the first country in the world to give women the vote and also the first country to make broadband a legal right for citizens.

and another photo out of the archives….taken just a couple of hundred metres from the previous photo, but months apart….a new photo converted into Black & White, then converted into Sepia to give it the old-fashioned look.

Thought for the day….” When you fish for love, bait with your heart”. ” You cannot cross the sea by merely standing and gazing at the water”.

A classic photo from Switzerland for the photo today. The photo was taken in the village of Kandersteg, near the centre of Switzerland. Located at about 1200m altitude, it is surrounded by the Bernese Alps which rise to over 3600m. Tourism is highly important here, and it is both a winter (skiing) and summer (hiking & climbing) destination. It is also the home of the international Scout centre, with over 11 000 Scouts visiting each year. Despite having 4 official languages, Swiss-German is the most prevalent, with around 65% of the 7.3 million residents speaking it. One piece of trivia….there are now more Starbucks coffee houses in Switzerland than banks. And Switzzerland has the highest consumption of chocolate per capita in the world…..11.6 kg/capita a year. As the saying goes…9 out of 10 people like chocolate, the 10th person was lying.

And a photo out of the archives….soldiers on parade in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Thought for the day….’ Maybe it is better to bend a little than to break altogether”.

” Do not stay in the past, it will hurt in the future”.

Did you see the story in the news about the jacket that the chocolate manufacturer, Cadbury, has commissioned which react when the wearer consumes certain chocolate products? Apparent, as the chocolate carrying-hand is raised to the mouth, LED lights in the jacket light up to show the mood of the consumer. Did you know that 16 of the top 20 chocolate-consuming countries are in Europe? Switzerland is number one, with an average annual consumption of around 11.3 kg/person. Austria, Germany and Ireland are also high on the list.

Walking around the streets of Morocco, and found this shop selling different parts of animals. Certain that I would not try any of these heads! If heads are not your thing, then the same stall had everything from feet to other less appetising parts. Perhaps it is good to be vegetarian sometimes!

Thought for the day…” You are only young once, but you can be immature forever”.

” When it comes to thought, some people stop at nothing”.

Standards are very high in Switzerland, and things work as they should. Had a trip to Kandersteg recently and was very lucky to stay in The Hayloft, which is a traditional Swiss chalet now operating as a B&B (www.thehayloft.ch). The building is almost 500 years old, and has fantastic views of the waterfalls and mountains nearby. Not only that, but the hosts that run the chalet were excellent, so the hospitality was great too. Just what you want when you are in Switzerland !! Kandersteg (altitude 1200m) is a great base for hiking, and with the network of cable cars and gondolas, it is very easy to reach the higher valleys. About 7.3 million people live in Switzerland, with around 70% of the country being mountainous. The famous Swiss army knives were originally all red so that they could be found easily in the snow. The Swiss are also famous for having the highest chocolate consumption per capita in the world.

Thought for the day….”Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn’t be done.” Amelia Earhart.

“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.”

A nice photo of the lake at Iseltwald, Switzerland today on an early autumn day. Switzerland has a wonderful system where citizens can (if they can raise 50 000 signatures) ask for a national vote on any law that they do not like. There are 26 cantons in Switzerland, which function like small states. One record that Switzerland holds is for the world’s longest staircase, which has 11 674 steps, alongside the Niesenbahn funicular. Zurich often comes tops in the list of most liveable cities in the world, although Geneva also scores highly. It also has the second highest life expectancy in the world (Japan is top). The highest mountain is the Monte Rosa (Dufourspitze) at 4634m, although the Matterhorn is more famous. It is said that Patek Philippe invented the world’s first wristwatch in 1868. And Switzerland is also the home of the world’s best chocolate !!

Thought for the day ….” Time may be a great healer, but it’s a lousy beautician.

Being a chocoholic, I found some interesting facts about chocolate…..

1. One plain milk chocolate candy bar has more protein than a banana.

2. Ten percent of U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance of iron is found in one ounce of baking chocolate or cocoa. Chocolate also contains Vitamins A1, B1, B2, C, D and E as well as calcium, potassium, sodium and iron.

3. The botanical name of the chocolate plant is Theobramba cacao, which means “Food of the Gods.”

4. The melting point of cocoa butter is just below the human body temperature — which is why it literally melts in your mouth.

5. The Swiss consume more chocolate per capita than any other nation on earth. That’s 22 pounds each compared to 11 pounds per person in the United States.

6. Chocolate produces the effects of a mild anti-depressant by increasing serotonin and endorphin levels in the brain.

7. Chocolate helps prevent bad cholestrol. Chocolate is rich in phenolics, the same heart protective antioxidants found in wine. In fact, 1.5 ounces of chocolate -the amount of a typical chocolate bar – has as many phenolitcs as a glass of red wine. These chemicals help lower the risk of heart disease and prevent clot-like substances from clogging arteries.

8. Boosts the Brain – A brain imaging study on healthy women at Britain’s University of Nottingham found flavanol-rich cocoa increased blood flow to their brains for two to three hours. Researchers believe cocoa could benefit older adults with dementia and Alzheimer’s.

ALL good reasons to eat more chocolate !!! And here is the photo of the day…..a bus passenger in Ethiopia.